1. Field
Example embodiments relate to image rendering according to a ray tracing scheme, and more particularly, to an image rendering apparatus and method that may prevent a pipeline stall between a cache and an operation apparatus in an acceleration structure traversal and an intersection test between a ray and a primitive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Three-dimensional (3D) rendering corresponds to image processing for synthesizing 3D object data to an image observed at a given camera viewpoint.
A rendering scheme may include a rasterization scheme of generating an image by projecting a 3D object onto a screen, a ray tracing scheme of generating an image by tracing a path of light incident along a ray towards each pixel at a camera viewpoint, and the like.
The ray tracing scheme may generate a high quality image by using physical properties of light, for example, reflection, refraction, transmission, and the like, to render a result. However, due to a relatively large number of calculations, the ray tracing scheme may be difficult to render at a high speed.
Factors of a ray tracing performance requiring a larger number of calculations may include generation and traversal of an acceleration structure (AS) in which scene objects to be rendered are spatially divided, and an intersection test between a ray and a primitive.
In addition, in a cache positioned between an external memory and an operation apparatus performing the traversal or the intersection test, cache misses may occur whereby latency may result during accesses to the external memory. This latency may deteriorate the total calculation speed.